Easy Live Foods

Live foods are a great way to put fish in spawning condition and are a necessity for many species which will not accept either flake or frozen foods but which are not consumers of other fish. Live foods will keep all native fish and tropical fish hearty and provide nutrition which flake foods cannot.

Daphnia, also known as water fleas due to their jerky swimming movements, are simple to culture, as most Daphnia are females and produce live young regularly if adequate food is present. Two species are generally available, Daphnia Magna and Daphnia Pulex. Daphnia Pulex are smaller and do not do well in high temperatures. If exposed to higher temperatures or a lack of food, some of the Daphnia will become males and mate with the females, producing nesting eggs, which can resist drying and freezing. Once the eggs are being produced (they look like specks of pepper that float on the surface of the water), the culture could die out if the water temperature is not stabilized. Daphnia Magna, on the other hand, are more tolerant of higher temperatures, but are a bit bigger.

Glass aquaria, plastic buckets or a child's wading pool can be used to culture Daphnia. The grunge siphoned out of existing tanks during water changes is an excellent starter media for green water. Simply fill one or more containers with grunge and aged water. Keep it a few days in the sun and let it go green. Daphnia is a microorganism, which is already in the grunge. The sun will help it thrive and grow. Tank water is an excellent source of aged water, but you can also use pond water or any stagnant water supply. Daphnia are very sensitive to metals, so don't use water fresh from the tap and let it age in order to produce stagnant water.

Pond water contains mature Daphnia so using this will speed up the breeding process. Add the pond water to the green water and watch for explosive population growth!

When the Daphnia is big enough for you to see them swimming around in the green water, it is time to feed them to your fish. You can either net the Daphnia or strain the green water or pour some of the green water directly into your tank. If you have baby fish, the best method is to pour the green water because it will contain baby Daphnia for them to eat.

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